Managing pandemic politics is easiest in states with stable majorities, as Andrew Cuomo of New York and Mike DeWine of Ohio have shown. It is much harder in more divided ones, especially for Republican governors, who cannot get too far out of step with the source of much of the divisiveness, President Donald Trump. And Texas is one of the most politically torn states of all. Its Republican rulers, grown decadent by decades in power, are bitterly feuding even as a tsunami of politico-demographic change rushes towards them. Mr Abbott’s highly politicised management of the pandemic may be about as solid as such pressures allow.
紐約州的安德魯·科莫和俄亥俄州的麥克·德萬(wàn)表示，管理多數(shù)席位穩(wěn)定的州的疫情期間的政治問(wèn)題是最容易的。總統(tǒng)唐納德·特朗普表示，在分歧更大的州中處理政治問(wèn)題更加困難，特別是共和黨州長(zhǎng)們，不能太過(guò)偏離造成分歧的根源，得克薩斯州是所有州中政治分歧最大的州之一。德克薩斯州的共和黨執(zhí)政者們，在執(zhí)政數(shù)十年后日漸頹廢，即使在政治人口變化的海嘯向他們襲來(lái)之際，他們?nèi)栽诩ち业貭?zhēng)吵。在這樣的壓力所允許的范圍內(nèi)，雅培州長(zhǎng)對(duì)疫情的高度政治化管理可能是可靠的。
His political balancing act reflects his enigmatic figure. He is much less charismatic than his immediate predecessors, Rick Perry and George W. Bush, and—deep into his second gubernatorial term—less well-known. Having ascended to the governorship via the state Supreme Court bench and attorney-general’s office, he has never faced a tough election. Many Texans have no idea even that he is wheelchair-bound, owing to a freak tree-fall accident he suffered as a teenager— though his courage in battling back from that tragedy is his most admirable quality. Politically, too, Mr Abbott has managed to remain usefully indeterminate.
他的政治平衡行為反映了他令人費(fèi)解的形象。他的魅力遠(yuǎn)不如他的前任，里克·佩里和喬治·沃克·布什，而且在他的第二個(gè)州長(zhǎng)任期內(nèi)也不那么出名。他通過(guò)州最高法院和總檢察長(zhǎng)辦公室升任州長(zhǎng)，從未面臨過(guò)艱難的選舉。許多德克薩斯人甚至不知道他是坐輪椅的，因?yàn)樗畮讱q時(shí)遭遇了一次奇怪的樹(shù)木墜落事故，盡管他從那場(chǎng)悲劇中奮力反抗的勇氣是他最令人欽佩的品質(zhì)。在政治上雅培也設(shè)法保持了不確定性，這很有用。
He took office as a conservative hardliner—boasting of the 31 times he had sued the Obama administration and soon enough echoing Mr Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric. This earned him credit with a state party that had veered hard to the right. Dan Patrick, leader of the Texan senate and an advocate of American grandparents risking covid-19 infection for the sake of the economy— even unto death—is its most recognisable face. Yet Mr Abbott knows Mr Patrick’s politics is another sort of suicide mission in a state that last had a white majority over a decade ago. The 2018 mid-terms, in which the Democrats flipped 14 seats in the state legislature (and Mr Patrick survived a surprisingly fierce challenge) underlined that reality. Having won his own re-election with ease, Mr Abbott used his increased heft in the party to help launch one of the most quietly impressive Republican rethinks of the Trump era. The state’s next biennial legislative session, held last year, was devoted to property tax and bipartisan education funding, not—as previously—to bathroom bills.
他上任時(shí)是保守派強(qiáng)硬派，自夸自己曾31次起訴奧巴馬政府，并很快回應(yīng)了特朗普的反移民言論。這為他贏得了一個(gè)努力右傾的州政黨的贊譽(yù)。德克薩斯州參議院領(lǐng)袖丹·帕特里克倡導(dǎo)美國(guó)有感染新冠肺炎風(fēng)險(xiǎn)的老年人們，通過(guò)死亡以拯救美國(guó)經(jīng)濟(jì)，他是努力右傾的州政黨的代表。然而，雅培知道帕特里克先生的政見(jiàn)對(duì)于一個(gè)州來(lái)說(shuō)，是另一種自殺式的任務(wù)，上一次自殺式任務(wù)是在10年前，當(dāng)時(shí)白人占多數(shù)。在2018年中期選舉中，民主黨在州議會(huì)中的席位翻了14席（帕特里克在一次出人意料的激烈挑戰(zhàn)中獲勝），凸顯了這一現(xiàn)實(shí)。在輕松贏得連任后，雅培利用自己在黨內(nèi)日益增加的分量，幫助發(fā)起了共和黨對(duì)特朗普時(shí)代最令人印象深刻的反思之一。該州下一次兩年應(yīng)屆的立法會(huì)議于去年舉行，專門(mén)討論財(cái)產(chǎn)稅和兩黨教育經(jīng)費(fèi)問(wèn)題，而不是像以前那樣討論廁所法案。
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